1. Joss Whedon had the first crack at the Buffy reboot, but turned it down to work on other projects. [via Vulture]
2. Despite mixed critical reviews and tons of technical complications, producers announced yesterday that Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has already sold more than $1 million worth of advance tickets. [via EW]
3. ABC has plans for a new show starring Tony winner Idina Menzel that will be “a mother-daughter relationship drama in the vein of Gilmore Girls.” But with singing. [via Deadline]
4. Frank Darabont writer/director of AMC’s newbie hit Walking Dead has reportedly let go of all the show’s writers and is looking to assign future scripts to freelancers. This is allegedly not unheard of in the biz, but wouldn’t you be so pissed off? [via Deadline]
5. Speaking of pissed, we hear that Ryan Seacrest just signed a three-year, $60 million deal to continue on the radio with Clear Channel. He’ll also help them create new on-air and digital content and launch a new record label. [via NYND]
Bonus link: Katy Perry’s Boobs Perform at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Alas, it’s April 1st — the day where we have to discern whether what we read, hear, and see on the Internet is true or a damn April Fool’s joke. We hand out awards for the funniest and meanest pranks we’ve come across today after the jump. Let us know what hilarity we’ve missed out on in comments.
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1. We didn’t see this one coming: it’s the James Cameron vs. Glenn Beck smackdown. All because Beck thinks that Cameron is the anti-Christ. [via ArtsBeat]
2. Zach Braff has announced on his Facebook page that the new Scrubs is dead, but ABC isn’t commenting. [via E!]
3. Blame it on the alcohol: Jamie Foxx is writing a modernized film adaptation of Laverne and Shirley that will be directed by Gary Marshall and could possibly star Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel. [via Vulture]
4. The Ricky Gervais Show — an animated series based on Gervais’ podcasts with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington — has been renewed for a second season by HBO. [via THR]
5. Don’t expect a David Hockney anti-smoking PSA anytime soon: “I have smoked for 52 years and I’m still here working away very ambitiously.” [via Independent]
Bonus link: Marisa Meltzer’s favorite concert footage by female artists
Thanks to the Winter Olympics, TV is currently in an incredibly bleak dead zone — even American Idol can’t compete with Bodie Miller. So what better time to look at the networks’ newly-announced slate of pilots for the 2010-11 season. After the jump, we’ve rounded up the new shows and weighed in on what sounds like it has the most potential. Let us know if you agree with our off-the-cuff analysis.
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After last year’s cancellation of Pushing Daisies and Life on Mars, we thought that ABC had decided to give up on quirky new shows all together in favor of reality programming, Kelsey Grammar, and cougars. And then we saw the trailer for Happy Town, the show that’s replacing Ugly Betty. The new mystery drama (which premieres in late April) is about a peaceful small town with a grisly past (Harper’s Island much?), and the trailer is so bizarre that we can’t help but be intrigued.
Check it out after the jump.
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Need to catch up on Lost before the Season 6 premiere? The Antonucci family of Long Island has made that easy to do with a video reenacting famous scenes from the series by creatively using bad wigs, ketchup, and household plants. Our favorite moments are the Ben Stein-esque “Previously on Lost” voice over and the introduction of Sawyer, who is naturally creeping on Jack and Kate from behind a tree. Check out the hilarious recap full of family bonding (and spoilers) after the jump.
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While there’s no new footage to be had in this trailer (per a decision by ABC executives), we’re going to bet that die hard Lost fans don’t mind waiting to find out what happened after Juliet detonated the bomb. In fact, they probably prefer it that way — less chance of spoilers after last season’s game-changing finale. At least this teaser is longer than 15 seconds, right?
The sixth (and final) season premieres on February 2 at 9 p.m. Does this promo get you excited for it? Can you handle a few more weeks of suspense?
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In an intentional leak similar to what the network did with Flashforward, a first look of ABC’s V is here. What we’ve got is the first 9 and a half minutes of the pilot episode (allegedly the best part) for the series, which premieres November 3. Watch the video after the jump.
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While you’re some of you are pining for the Dr. George O’Malley swan song that will never be on the new season of Grey’s Anatomy, others will (probably) be missing out on The Family Guy‘s snarky insensitivity about abortion. Oh the humanity!
Seriously folks, this “breaking news” from Comic-Con sounds like a nefarious marketing plan cooked up to sell DVDs. The Family Guy can get away with making intentionally offensive jokes about any and everything that gets people in a tizzy from racism to rape to Sarah Palin and John McCain being Nazis, but somehow we’re supposed to believe that a new episode about abortion was relegated to the cutting room floor? Come on, Seth. We’re not buying it. Read More »
1. Rupert Murdoch says the future of newspapers is digital and there may be a time when you “get it on a panel which would be mobile, which will receive the whole newspaper over the air, (and) be updated every hour or two.” [Via Breitbart]
2. Coldplay’s Chris Martin “has been hit by a run of stinking bad luck that is blighting the band’s world tour.” [Via The Sun]
3. Pixar’s latest, Up, opens today. The New York Times‘ says it starts off strong but “the story grows progressively more formulaic. And cuter.” [Via NYT]
4. Moot? “A well-placed magazine source tells Page Six that [Adam] Lambert will be coming out officially on the next cover of Rolling Stone.” [Via NYP]
5. ABC has given the green light to Crash Course — which will feature 5 couples competing in extreme driving challenges — for a late summer run. [Via THR]
